His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. – 2 Peter 1:3 (NIV).

We already have everything we need. According to 2 Peter 1:3, we have everything we need for life and godliness. I can just hear you saying, “If I have everything I need for life and godliness, then why am I living in poverty? Why am I sick? Why do I have neighbor trouble?” This Scripture says that God’s divine power gives it to us. Through His divine power, we find two forces at work–love and grace. It took love and grace to save us. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die on the Cross for us, to be a substitute for our sins. Because of God’s love, He is merciful even when we don’t deserve it. He pours out His grace to save us, to heal us, to make a place for us in Heaven. All things we never deserved nor did we earn. These two forces give us everything we need that pertain to life and godliness. Love and grace allowed Christ to go to the Cross. What Jesus did on the Cross affords us the opportunity to be Born-Again. And when we are, everything we need is deposited in us. However, if we have everything we need in us, why are we sick? Why are we broke? Because we have not activated what we need. We can have a computer in our house, but if we don’t know how to use it, the computer will sit on our desk, collecting dust. We haven’t taken out the instruction manual and read through all the benefits we are entitled to in our salvation package. We know we are saved. We know that we are redeemed from Hell, but we are content to live to survive rather than live to thrive. We believe that it is selfish to live the abundant life that God promised us, but in order to be a blessing to others, we must first be blessed.

How do we activate what we already possess?

1 . Stand on the Word. Let’s say our relative leaves us fourteen million dollars. Unless we check the will, we won’t know we were entitled to that money. Second, if we don’t claim the inheritance, we will not receive it. The same is true with God. We have to go to His Will, the Word of God, and see what He has given us. Then we must claim them by standing on them–quoting the Scripture, praying it, thinking about it.

2. Believe. We must believe that when we pray the Word of God that God has heard us and that He will answer. The Bible promises that if we pray according to God’s Will, God will hear us and do what we have asked. We have that assurance. We just have to believe.

3. Receive. People think that receiving is hard, hut the same way we received salvation is the same way we receive all the promises of God. We believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths. The key is to believe that we receive what we asked for.

We shouldn’t let anyone talk us out of what the Word says we have. It is God’s good pleasure to prosper us, to heal us, to deliver us. Every time. But we must claim the promises and believe that we receive them, then we shall have them. If we wait, never giving up, it will come if we keep steadfast to the promises.